I got that 4 DVD set with the Dracula films, and have to admit I was pretty disappointed. Horror of Dracula was great, but the others were pretty blah. I will say, I think Christopher Bee is the greatest Dracula of all time. He’s actually scary, hell, he’s beyond scary, he’s terrifying. For instance, in Horror of Dracula when we first see him with the blood on his mouth, and he just rushes in a rage. To me, that’s still scary.

Man, I really, really hope that James does the Friday the 13th series. How could he not? It’s the most sequel heavy horror franchise ever, and ALL the films kick ass, with exception to the first one.

scrublife.wordpress.com – we talk horror, wrestling, movies, do a lot of Top 5 type stuff. We’re also the only site with the Man Movie Encyclopedia. Where we review the greatest action films ever and give you the Man Movie Tally, that includes full counts of explosions, deaths, boobies, slow motion scenes and a lot more. We also include unknown facts, plus box office business. We’re the virtual entertainment-boner capital of the world.

WOW! THIS IS THE REASON WHY SIR CHRISTOPHER LEE TURNED DOWN ALL BUT THE FIRST 2 DRACULA FILMS MADE BY HAMMER….
But Hammer told Lee that if he didn’t do from the 3rd film on, he would be responsible for Hammer going out of business. That is the only reason why he did these films. I have all of these on vhs, and the first 3, and Scars of Dracula on dvd. Christopher Lee has always been my favorite actor, and an inspiration to me. Thank you James for doing these reviews, they are awesome

There are other monsters than Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolfman. How about a review of the Toxic Avenger you could make some serious funny comments about that one, no? i still love your October and watch them all :). I guess what i am trying to say is that a mix up would be nice but James your the best 🙂

Like I said on one of the earlier entries, Horror of Dracula, Curse of Frankenstein, and The Mummy remake are all great, classic films. Unfortunately, the sequels to the Dracula and Frankenstein series aren’t all that great, and at the very least, they get worse with each movie. That was certainly the case with the last two Dracula films. I like that Cushing is back, but if you really want to see him as a bad ass, but older Van Helsin, watch Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, the technical “last” in the series, that was co-produced by the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong. It has some great Kung-Fu in it, plus Cushing is in top form as the relentless Van Helsing. He was quite good in Brides of Dracula too.

I can’t really speak for the Mummy series, as I’ve only seen two of them, and honestly, the first follow up, while not a sequel at all, Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, is actually pretty decent. But I have to imagine that the second two entries get worse. Especially the last, which, while apparently based on the Bram Stoker novel Jewel of the 7 Stars, featuring (basically) a female mummy, it’s a 70s entry, and the Hammer films all seems to generally go downhill in the 70s (with the exception, again, of the last Van Helsing one). Again, I just personally feel that the 50s and 60s were Hammer’s prime, especially the 60s, and there are a lot of GREAT Hammer films that anyone in here, if they’re so inclined, should look up, that are not part of these series, such as:

The Abominable Snowman, The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass 2, Quatermass and the Pit, Island of Terror, Night of the Big Heat, The Earth Dies Screaming, The Gorgon, The Reptile, Plague of the Zombies, X The Unknown, The Hound of Baskervilles (a GREAT Sherlock Holmes story with Cushing and Lee), The Man Who Could Cheat Death, The Curse of the Werewolf, etc. Like I said, a vast majority of these were in the 60s, and all of them are good to great.

As for Lee being the scariest Dracula, I suppose I can see that. He played the part with more sinister intent, that is true. But to me, Bela Lugosi was classic in the role, not just because he was the “first”, but because his Dracula was more like what the novel character was, more a charmer and deceiver, even though he does hint at having great power.

If the ‘Alucard’ character is a Vampire then maybe he is one and the same with the guy at the start who takes the ashes? Although I doubt they thought that far ahead that would be a good way of explaining it.

@LisVender – in bttf 3 Shamus and his wife look like Marty and Jennifer…which makes zero sense. Those are two different bloodlines…unless Marty and Jennifer and distant relatives…which might explain why their kids were such freaks….

@Ash Williams But that’s the point of this year’s Monster Madness. James explicitly said that it was this year’s theme to do classic horror movies and their sequels. While those are excellent movies, with sequels, they are not classics (except maybe in the slasher department). Maybe he’ll do them next year

I can’t believe that Christopher Lee would just refuse to say lines in these movies because the dialog was so bad. I wonder why they wouldn’t just rewrite the script or replace him. The hammer series draculas are just bizarre. I’m learning a lot this month though.

Who would have been a better replacement? Christopher Lee was THE Dracula of his time. If you think about who the legend is based off of, his intensity and holier-than-thou attitude is as good as it gets, Vlad got his nickname “the Impaler” for a reason.

And the fact that Dracula doesn’t speak often gives us a more sinister character. It the case of Hammer’s Dracula…Less is More.

James I have to really thank you for making Monster Madness. It really opened me up to horror movies before 2000, for the longest time I refused to watch Black and White movies but the way you portrayed some of them made them seem more artistic and fun.

Completely unrelated to Monster Madness, but every time I play one of your videos, Derrick Fisher is doing some charity commercial and it really makes me mad/sad about his stupidity and the NBA being cancelled 🙁

Please tell me we will see a review of a movie that was made in my lifetime soon? LOL…I can really appreciate that you enjoy the older movies and that they ahve nostalgia…I just think that there is fun to be had with the 80’s for sure.

This is actually the only Hammer Dracula film I own on DVD. I saw it in a DVD bargain bin at a grocery store for $5 and it immediately made me think of Cinemassacre and Monster Madness so I just had to pick it up.

I thought I had Satanic Rites of Dracula, since I have one of those massive DVD collections of public domain horror movies (250 movies in one box), but it turns out it’s not in there. It’s strange, since the box has a picture of Christopher Lee as Dracula on it, but the only movie in the set with Christopher Lee in it is “End of the World”, which had nothing to do with vampires and instead has Lee playing a dual role as the hero and the villain, one being a priest and the other being an alien clone trying to take over the world….

The funk music is suppose to be modern variation on that action theme from opening battle… and that’s what it tries to be, fast pacing action scene more than horror. They are fighting and I think it’s a decent action… more horror-ish theme comes after he uses holy water and kills Dracula in that pit.

@BheemaDaCashman Well he wasn’t exactly praising them. This one got ‘shit sandwich’, if that’s being too easy on it, then maybe you’re being too harsh on it. The music just about gets me on your side, though. ¯◡◡¯·